EXCEL2000 - Duplicate Records Elimination - two column combined for uniqueness

[Uugggh]

I am a new user of excel and have seen postings reguarding th
elimination of duplicates.
The duplicates I have can only be determined by looking at two column
together. One column contains a location (often repeated), the othe
contains a shelf(often repeated), it is the combination of the two tha
would make a record unique.

I have never run a macro and am unsure where to put the codes I foun
here.

Will the macros I found on the site do what I am trying to do? If s
where do I post them? Thanks in advance for your assistance.

:confused

 

[Frank Kabel]

Hi
for getting started with macros have a look at
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/getstarted.htm

For running your deletion macro i would first create a helper column
which combines your two columns. Use a formula like
=A1 & B1
and copy this down. Run the macro for this coluumn. One (of many9 such
macros can be found at:
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/deleting.htm#DeleteDuplicateRows

 

[Uugggh]

I don't want to combine the columns. I want to keep them as separat
entities so I can sort/ filter based on location alone later. The way
currently know there is a duplicate is by staring and comparing th
columns looking for duplicate information in two columns. The way i
looks in excel is:

_Location__________Shelf__________Status_

50st 00001.01a Good
26av 01261.05a Good
42st 01145.03b No Good
50st 00001.01a

I need to keep one of the 50st duplicates, preferably the one with mor
information. The spreadsheet is quite large with 27 columns and 38,00
records. I think there are about 17 - 20,000 duplicates in it. Pleas
help

 

[Frank Kabel]

Hi
you use a combine column just as a helper column for eliminating the
duplicates. After this you can delete this helper column

 

[Uugggh]

Thank you for your assistance. I am printing the notes up right now
Sorry I didn't initially see your post I was busy putting in m
clarifacation